Neanderthals

Those involved in the study of genetics and evolution find this topic very fascinating. The evolution of human beings from the past up to now is very interesting. It is even more interesting to know that if you are tracing your ancestors and go beyond your great, great grandparents you are likely to get astonished at the revelation that you get. It is believed that you could find yourself having a DNA that is in some percentage alike to that of a certain family of trees. How is it possible that human beings and trees could have evolved from the same point? If you do not believe this then you need to do some research and know what Neanderthals are.

Discovery of Neanderthals

Neanderthals refers to the old fossils that are believed to have evolved over 200,000 years ago. The fossils were first discovered in Neander valley in Germany and are believed to be of a group of hominids that are now extinct. They Neanderthals are believed to have an origin in eastern Mediterranean and before they became extinct had spread to Western Asia and Europe. Research has shown that there is a lot of evidence that show that Neanderthals species share a lot of things in common with Homo sapiens. The genetic base pairs of these two species showed a match ob as much as 99.7%. This suggests that it is possible that the two species could have interbred at one point. Close examination however; show not less than 23 areas of the genes that showed great dissimilarities between modern human beings and the Neanderthals.

Dissimilarities of the two species

The two species are believed to have brains of almost the same size but there was a great disparity in the development, functioning and way in which the brain cells and the brain synapses. Homo sapiens had a brain structure that was wired in a different way from that of the Neanderthals. Another noticeable feature was that of the blue eyes. Homo sapiens do not have blue noticeable eyes but they are believed to have these genes that lead to blue eyes in them. In the past it was believed that the Neanderthals were not intelligent enough. This however lacks some truth as the Neanderthals showed some bit of intelligence. This was evident from the necklaces they made from animal teeth. They also made musical instruments and weapons that they used for hunting.